Warhorse Won't Deny Making a Lord of the Rings RPG

"We are hard at work on... something. I cannot disclose details but I can tell it is a huge, immersive RPG." That's content director Ondřej Bittner during a Reddit AMA on r/gaming, responding to a direct question about whether Warhorse Studios is making a Lord of the Rings game. Community manager Tom Grey added that the studio "obviously" can't comment on future projects, before Bittner chimed in with what he called "unfortunately not the one you hope for" as a response. Nobody said no.

The rumor traces back to localization specialist Ryszard Chojnowski, whose credits include The Witcher, claiming last month that the Kingdom Come studio was working on a LOTR title. That lines up with earlier reporting that the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) invested roughly $100 million into a AAA Lord of the Rings RPG at Embracer Group, Warhorse's parent company. Describing your next project as a "huge, immersive RPG" when you're being asked point-blank about Lord of the Rings is about as close to a confirmation as you can get without your legal team having a meltdown.

I'm excited by the prospect. We haven't had a proper single-player Lord of the Rings RPG, and Warhorse proved with Kingdom Come: Deliverance II that it can build dense, historically grounded worlds with real mechanical depth. Transplanting that design philosophy into Middle-earth, with $100 million behind it, could be something special. Bittner also teased that a reveal is coming in the "near future," so we probably won't be waiting long to find out if the non-denial becomes an actual announcement.

Separately in the same AMA, Warhorse addressed its AI controversy, insisting it does "not use AI-generated content in the final game" and that it's actively hiring human translators. The studio declined to comment directly on translator Max Hejtmanek's claim that his position was made obsolete to save money, citing internal HR matters. Creative director Prokop Jirsa said the team "decided to go in head first" with the AMA despite knowing the AI questions were coming.